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God’s Lavish Supply
Episode #363
23 November 2013
With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
(M) John, I wanted to go back a few podcasts ago where we talked about asceticism, remember, and the Amish?
(J) Yeah, absolutely, that was a wonderful podcast.
(M) Well I wanted to balance it out with some wonderful things the Lord has taught me about possessions and money and how to live with the Lord, rightly, about those things.
(J) Well I recently said that it’s very, very difficult to be exhaustive in any particular subject matter. Because, you know, you basically have fifteen minutes to be able to hit an aspect of a topic. And it’s real difficult to be exhaustive in that because most issues have multi facets because God holds in balance every issue. And so there’s works and there’s faith and there’s grace, and there’s, yeah, all of the aspects of a godly life are multi faceted. So when we hit a topic, sometimes we’re a little one sided on what we’re focusing on, and I appreciate everybody having the grace with us to basically, kind of go down this little river of topics, and allow the Spirit really to speak at any given point what He wants to say at that aspect. And then, you know, today we want to go back and bring another aspect of that topic.
(M) Well the prosperity gospel is real popular now; God wants you to be rich. And ah, you give so you can get rich. And ah, that, that is the last thing; there’s something far more wonderful and adventurous than that. When I first started walking with the Lord, people were coming for prayer from a lot of different places. And I really knew that I knew nothing; it was a wonderful place to be, I just didn’t know it. And I would just beg the Lord to give me what I needed for every session of prayer. And I found this, ah, verse in 2 Cor. 9:8, and it became my claim, my hope, my sufficiency, my affirmation from God. And so I’m going to read it to you. 2 Cor. 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” And without fail he always, always supplied me with the insight, the scripture, the, ah, unction, everything I needed He would supply; and still does to this day. But this verse is for my life, a basic promise, but it is to the work He has given me to do. And that is the issue of supply. The issue of supply is not that nobody should be wealthy, or that everybody should be poor. That’s, ah, asceticism is restricting yourself materially to prove you’re a religious person. Asceticism is not a good word in that sense that it is applied to religion, because it is used to, for pride, ‘I’m not materialistic’. Well materialism exists in the heart not in the objects. It’s all about how you view things, and how God views them. So He, He will supply, wherever He’s put you, I think Paul said it in one book, “Stay in the place where you are called and live there.” That means that your circumstance dictates what God supplies for you. Your circumstance is the place of your work for Him. And several weeks ago I was charging our flock, and we put it on a podcast, that this internet ministry was our ministry. And that we had had two, actually almost three missions, and the Lord closed down both. And it really broke my heart, because I so longed for a work for the poor. And we had that in two different, ah, third world countries; but God has not, God has taken that. And three people responded, and I need to go back and thank them profusely, because they said, they were so encouraging; they said ‘you are, it’s still a nation, you’re reaching the world’. And I can’t thank them enough because it gave me a power to accept that we have, this internet ministry, God has reduced us to this, and it’s enough, it’s enough.
(J) Hmhmm.
(M) So, that having been said, we, so what does He give us? We travel, we go to speak, we go to be with people that really follow us. So what are we supplied with? Travel things. He’s supplied us with, ah, Buddy Passes with Delta, and me an actual family pass through a dear friend, and that’s what He’s supplied. What does He supply me? Things to travel with, those blouses, as soon as I got them we were off on the road. And ah, they supplied me for the work you see. It wasn’t just ‘ouu-ouu’ I get lots of clothes, although God is lavish. If you confine your life to His calling and the work He’s assigned to you, He’s outlandishly lavish in how He supplies you for that. But in Luke, Luke is big whole chapters about money, and it’s frightening, and I don’t claim to be finished dealing with it by any means, but it is frightening. The parable of the talents is really about money.
(J) Hmhmmm.
(M) Its, a talent was a collection of silver money worth about a thousand dollars. And one place it says it was a year’s wages. Another place says it’s just worth a thousand dollars. But in any event it was a good sum of money. And what you did to multiply that represents that God wants everything He gives you to go to increase. So part of your work and calling from Him is the management of material things, the use, the proper use of material things. And John you do the most amazing job of making a dollar go a hundred different ways. You do points, you do specials, you do ah, priority card, you do everything that there can be done you do to stretch the dollar. We also have, ah, Carol and Don have access to ah, what do you call it, RCI?
(J) Its a time-share.
(M) Time-share that we use when we get away, and it’s just like twenty dollars a night or something ridiculous. So we have a lavish supply for our, for what we have to do. If we get anything else it would be a different supply. But “He is able to make abound to you, that you having all sufficiency at all times in all things you may abound to every good work.” And it’s the most amazing thing, what He does in this arena, and personally. I want to tell a story in just that last few days. There’s this little, ah, camping stove called a cobb grill. I want it, it is an ingenious design, patented, and has won awards. And I got a notice, I’ve given it to my children for Christmas, and if the power’s out you can cook all kinds of things on it. It’s a wonderful invention, and it can use a very small amount of charcoal; I recommend it highly; so one Christmas I gave it to all of them. Notice, I got a notice that the store, the cobb grill store in the United States was being closed, and hurry, hurry and buy the things that go with it. So I waited a little bit and I went to go and buy one, and I started, ah, internet, wanted to give it for a Christmas gift, started entering; anyway, they only had four left and they were sold out. And I assumed, because they never mentioned that you could ever get another cobb grill, (she laughs), I assumed that was the end of the cobb grill. And I said, “Lord, somewhere there’s a cobb grill for me, please, if you will just please send me a cobb grill. I want to give it to someone for Christmas.” So I had sent you an e-mail to get one, and you missed it too. So what do you do but go on Amazon and there they all are. And (she laughs), they didn’t mention to me that from now on Amazon would carry the cobb grill, so then I was able to get it. But that was the desire that God supplied lavishly. So He is so practical, He, wherever you can be practical into your life, because sometimes we lose power, who knows what we’ll be doing with that cobb grill. I enjoy it all the time; it’s a wonderful way to cook. And you can do chicken and vegetables and all that on them, so they are for the cobb grill. That’s how lavish God is to supply in your condition in your state in your life, so we can never judge what a person has. Ok, I want to go back in my life. When my husband was thirty, he was elected as the youngest senator in the state of Georgia, at the time the youngest ever. He was a lawyer. And so our life was a bit on the social edge, there are many, when you’re in a state government like that there are many social events at the governor’s mansion and all over the place, and then you entertain. So I learned, studied and learned how to entertain, and I had lots of silver things at that time. Then he became a judge. So our lives involved a place in this world of, of prominence, and you’d say and authority, so I lived and made my home and most everything in my house has a story of God. Because here’s what I learned from Watchman Nee, ok. Watchman Nee says, see all your possessions have to belong to the Lord. We own nothing. I remember the day on my farm I was suddenly hit with the issue, I don’t own this farm, God does, it’s not mine. I went to that with my children, with everything, it’s not mine, my life is not mine, the story is not mine. If you’re going to be a disciple you must lose all your possessions. And I believe that means all your possessions that you possess; it takes certain things to live, huh, I think God knows that. So Watchman Nee says…
(J) So it almost says losing your possessing.
(M) Exactly, that’s the way I believe it is. And the Lord tested me on that. I told of this in Mexico recently, that He’d say, ok, give that antique to this little single mother. Oh, Lord, that one? Ok. Or, you remember that pink pantsuit that you love so much, put it at the door of this lady that you don’t even know. And He even had me give away over and over again, I’d get my Bible filled with notes and He’s say give it, give your Bible away. He hasn’t done that in twenty years, but He’s, He’s, I have proven I will do it if He wants it anytime. But that’s just, He made me live that out; it’s a deep, deep lesson in me. But what Watchman Nee said is, “Everything must be consecrated to the Lord.” Like all the items in the temple are consecrated, they were made holy. And I feel like I’m going so fast, but this is exciting. To be consecrated and made holy, just means it belongs to God. So whatever belongs to God is holy. And so if you body belongs to God your body then is holy. That’s what it means, set apart to God. So Nee said go through your house, and whatever God has given you, you let Him own it, give it back to Him and receive it and then it will be holy, and it will not be an idol.
Thank you for getting to the ‘meat’ of this issue! Sometimes I feel so guilty about having material things (especially because I’m a stay-at-home mom and don’t work out side the home), sometimes material things seem like a real burden especially with the financial burden of insurance and taxes for cars, homes, property etc. But really acknowledging all things belong to HIM–it seems like I know it in my head but I haven’t had the grace or done the work of ‘losing my possessing.’ But especially your last remark about our body belongs to God, I can care for my body differently–with joy in healthy eating, not because I have to look good for the world or I love myself– but because its His and I love Him. What a blessed freedom being in Him is.